_20-minute *noisecore cabaret*_ by sister0
mutant dolls & curiosa embedded with hacked gamepads are played like instruments to divine samples and modify vocals; playful ode to the history of paraphernalia...


'Set on a small makeshift stage remininsicent of early 20thC fun fairs, Nancy appears right at the centre of the action dressed in a dress which appears to be composed from as many sources of material as the rest of the stage. Everything seems to have come right from a Mad max movie heavily impregnated with very colourful trash aesthetics. Using the various devices intended to produced audio glitches, she manipulates a set of prerecorded pop songs as well as her own voice live on stage."
Florian Cramer and Anke Arns (2007)



pic below by binary koala


'Moving and manipulating the dolls she evokes a vaudeville techno electro-clash version of a karaoke singing ventriloquist.' - Mirko Tobias Schäfer


The main object of this performance is to amalgamate unusual objects commonly seen as trash or paraphernalia, I take everyday objects and transform them,to act not only as theatrical props but functional tactile sonic emulators.In *paraphernalia* I piece together odd things to perpetrate its mystery, but also give homage to the subjugated womens' history of paraphernalia.

here is my voice modifier, there is a tilt sensor on the tip of the right wing that modifies the voice when moved from 0 to 1 to sound like a radio transmisson coming from elsewhere.

"'Paraphernalia' consists of self-built controllers for audio/dance
performances that free performers from operating laptops on stage,
giving them back their gestural mobility, and allowing both a technical and
artistic feedback between music, vocals, dance and technology.
(Realized with joystick interfaces, analogue motion sensors and modified
gamepads in conjunction with the real-time signal processing software Pure
Data.)" - Florian Cramer

The hardware-software application is built for a live electronic cabaret act so that the performer, trained in a traditional sense, is not limited to being stuck behind the computer screen. Human Interface Devise's (HIDs) masquerade as paraphernalia, allowing a dynamic design where vocals and audio can be modified, moved, and distorted by a performing artist whose gestural action of the objects creates a theatrical illusion.

2.4ghz wireless circuit boards and game-pad stamps are hacked with analogue sensors then embedded into curiosa. These HID's interface with Pure Data graphical programming language, a live processing tool that is programmed to switch through sound tracks, trigger FX and cause glitches that is allowed by the information coming in from the motion sensors.

I integrate audio samples from diverse sources; break-beat, tango, trash-pop, punk-rock and raw guitar. Amongst my own compositions, I enter the realm of *karaoke-core cabaret* singing broken-up lyrics of haunted tunes that often sound like a radio transmission coming from elsewhere maybe as even as far as Tasmania....

screenshots of my pd patches

all the three HID interfaces - tilt sensor/x y graduals

main interface where samples and hid fx are mapped to gether

FADER fox midi-mapping

2.4ghz wireless circuit boards and game pad stamps are hacked with sensors to make tactile sonic emulators out of curiosa and objects. These are programmed interface with Pure Data live processing language. Specifically I made these for A noise, breakcore cabaret.

gamepad taken out of the shell

gambepad hacked with light sensor

gamecontroller reassembled with sensor interfacing with computer/puredata

recieves number values from the sensor and triggers sound.

the electronic stamps from the gamepads will be embedded into the objects

a musical doll vessel found on queensday,
this will contain a tilt sensor and a 2.4ghz rumblepad 2.

rudebots from tasmania (meta curiosa)

JACK is a system for sending audio between applications as well as allowing them to all share an audio interface.

ALSA mixer
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture

For cutting up files and all the rest I use
sound editor REZOUND

and ffmpeg
ffmpeg

Also for performance and live sound processing I use Pure Data software for this project download it Here see also technical specifications section of this site.

I made a prototype DJ mixer, soundfile player/mixer with loop synch, effects, song-saving, built after PD workshop at Pickled feet with Derek Holzer, (master of PD patch optimization for live performance)


In the project I use Pure Data Software for the following:
-"Classical" sound synthesis (AM, FM, Additive, Subtractive, etc)
Soundfile manipulation (looping, pitchshifting, time stretching,
granular synthesis, chops and screws, etc...)
-"Classic" effects (delay, reverb, wah-wah, flanger, etc...)
-External hardware HID/ MIDI (simple sensors, joysticks etc for physical control.

This last part is the main area of focus for the PZI final project.

_A 30-minute live act (electro-noise-dance)_

Female performer with _traditional_ singing and dance background augmented by an electronic music tool programmed in Pure Data Graphical programming language (Pd).

Along with electronic sound pedals and MIDI controllers the main object of the performance is to amalgamate unusual objects commonly seen as trash or paraphernalia not normally considered into musical instruments, these act not only as theatrical props but as functional tactile sonic emulators which operate the Pd patches on the computer.

The project is devised and ‘built with inspiration from MIDI equipment and electronic musical instruments’. It aims to explore real-time performance with electronic musical controllers. The sound instruments for live electronic performance are designed so that the performer is not limited to continually being stuck behind the screen of the computer.

The hardware and software application combined supports the creation of an aural, visual and haptic dialogue between itself, the performer, and the audience.

In the act I play a character, sisterO who has the extra sensory ability to pick up signals from people in other times and spaces via objects. This paraphernalia is fitted with joysticks hacked with sensors (some wireless), or faders that control sound samples, effects (FX) for real time sound modification, which bring about new states of being and action to the performance itself. Here I extend the notion of found objects into found voices.

I choose to use Pure Data (Pd) primarily because it has many interaction possibilities for me to operate it whilst physically moving through space; namely by its midi and HID (human
interface device) objects. I can play with a virtual, but physical instrument via sensors and hardware controllers. These embedded networked objects are spread around the stage and interface (via MIDI and HIDs) with Pure Data (PD) software that allow for a comportment of a digital audio synthesis. This tool as a whole will allow me to: pull sounds from a set of samples, juxtapose these archived recordings with live beats, sound and voice, and apply digital processing FX all at the same time.